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Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Vitesse Arnhem's training complex, contained within the Dutch NOC's training complex at Papendaal, just outside Arnhem, recently played host to Chelsea when they visited Holland for a pre-season training get-together, combined with a friendly against Vitesse at the Gelredome Stadium in Arnhem.

It also played host to the Dutch U-17 (or B1) Cup Final on 30/5/14 between Vitesse and PSV Eindhoven, and among those in the visiting party was none other than Mark van Bommel. The ex-Dutch international, PSV and Bayern München player was completing the first season in his quest to obtain a KNVB coaching badge.

The game itself, played in wonderfully summery conditions, began with Vitesse on the attack, for whom Marc Bouwman had the first effort on goal after three minutes, which eventually went out for a throw-in. Team-mate Marlon Versteeg almost caught out the PSV defence moments later, latching on to a slack back-pass, but PSV goalkeeper and captain Yanick van Osch was alert to the danger, rushing out of his penalty-area to clear the danger.

PSV's first moment of danger came with seven minutes on the clock, when Dani van der Moot collected the ball at the edge of the right-hand side of the penalty-area, cut down the goal-line and proceeded to belly-flop just inside the goal-line, with the ball eventually running out of play for a goal-kick.

Vitesse ran the show during the first ten minutes, but PSV began to dominate somewhat thereafter, with van der Moot's winning the ball of a dawdling Marc Bouwman inside the home penalty-area leading to close-range effort from the angle of the six-yard box, which was well saved by Vitesse 'keeper Filippos Zachariadis. A period of pressure in the 16th minute led to Matthias Verreth's shot from ten yards out flying past Zachariadis' left-hand post.

Vitesse had the ball in the PSV net four minutes later, Anil Marcan bundling the ball home after an Amine Ennali corner from the left-hand side fell into a congested penalty-area, but the goal was correctly ruled out by referee Rob van Lier, who spotted a handball in amongst the melée.

The goal might have been disallowed, but it still gave Vitesse renewed hope, and a cheeky 30-yard sidefooted volley from Leeroy Schorea, caught in the end by van Osch, was followed by an attack in the 27th minute down the left-hand side. A ball in from Ennali, who, along with Julian Lelieveld and Ennali, was superb in the first half, eluded Niek van der Berg by centimetres, but it trundled on and eluded everybody else in the penalty-area, including a static van Osch in the PSV goal, who was doubtless relieved to see it nudge the post and rebound out to his feet.PSV were doing their best to come more into the game, with van der Moot and Dante Rigo coming up with some of their most enterprising play, but Vitesse were looking the more likely to score, with Anil Mercan and Versteeg failing to do better with promising chances. At the other end, Kenneth Paal went on a run, beating two opponents in the process, only to see his shot from 25 yards skewer wide. He was also involved in one of the last meaningful move of the first half, with his run and low cross from the right being met by van der Moot, but his shot was not cleanly struck and the ball was eventually cleared.

PERSONAL TUSSLE: PSV's Lennnerd Daneels and VItesse forward Marlon Versteeg in a tussle for the ball as their team-mates look on

The second half began with more pressure from the home team, with Versteeg at the end of of a flowing four-man move, but his shot was well saved by van Osch. PSV broke, and van der Moot's effort was acrobatically turned away by Zachariadis.Van der Moot almost put PSV in front in the 49th minute, but his flick-on from a corner bounced off the Vitesse custodian's right-hand post.PSV began to dominate now, and Maarten Peijnenburg headed a Matthias Verreth corner wide. Verreth then went on a mazy run through the Vitesse defence only to be fouled some 23 yards from goal; Philippe Rommens' free-kick from 23 yards only just eluded Zachariadis' left-hand post. Verreth and Rommens both had shots on the Vitesse goal. The deadlock was finally broken in the 63rd minute, a fine through ball picking out Kenneth Paal, who delicately hooked the ball past the onrushing Zachariadis, just inside the left-hand post.The Vitesse team seemed to lose heart almost immediately, apart from second-half substitute Marco Weymans, who caused van Osch some difficulty with a cross-shot, and was himself almost on the end of a cross a few moments after.Vitesse were becoming desperate, but it was PSV's Steven Bergwijn who scored the game's second goal in the 70th minute, who ran into the penalty-area, dribbled round two defenders, and then from 8 yards out slid the ball past Zachariadis and just inside his left-hand post.There was only one team who was going to lift the cup now, and it wasn't going to be Vitesse, who were becoming increasingly ragged as the game neared its conclusion. PSV were now playing with a certain assurance, and substitute Reyer van Doorn almost added a third in injuty-time, but Zachariadis saved well to divert van Doorn's sidefooted strike to his left; the resulting corner-kick was flung across goal and ended up just wide of the Vitesse goal.

CONTRASTING EMOTIONS: PSV Eindhoven's Under-17 team celebrate while their counterparts from Vitesse Arnhem look on

Monday, August 18, 2014

Ilulissat
club I-69 have retained the Greenland women's national championship
after defeating NÛK 3:0 in the play-off final, held in the western town
of Sisimiut, on 3/8/14. Six teams were due to take part; however, UB-83
from the northern village of Upernavik scratched from the competition
due to their apparently being unable to travel to Sisimiut. No replacement
team could be found in time for the beginning of the competition.

I-69
defeated NÛK 2:1 in the 2013 final, and NÛK were up for revenge in the first group game for both teams.
However, I-69 defeated NÛK 1:0,
and I-69 went on to win all four group games to qualify for the final.
NÛK achieved their first target of a place in the final in some style,
putting 23 goals past S-68, Kugsak 45 and FC Malamuk, who eventually
finished bottom. As a result of finishing bottom, FC Malamuk, who won the first three editions in 1987, 1988 and 1989 but haven't reached the final since, finished
outside the play-off places.

The
third-place play-off saw S-68 face off against Kugsak 45, and the hosts
defeated Kugsak 45 for the second time in the competition, this time by
3:1, to take the bronze medal. It was the sixth time S-68 had finished in third place in the national championship - they won the championship on the only occasion they have reached the final, back in 1992 - and it was their best performance since 2005.

No club apart from I-69 and NÛK have won the national championship since 1994, and they met once again in the final. I-69 went into the final as favourites, and they more than justified their billing by sweeping aside a brave NÛK team by 3 goals to 0, all three goals coming in the second half, to record their twelfth national championship success.On the other hand, it was NÛK's ninth defeat in a championship final, all of which have come against I-69 (NÛK have won the championship on eight occasions).

There was consolation for NÛK in the fact that four of their players were named in what was, strangely, billed as the tournament's best XII; Aili Pedersen was also named as the tournament's most technically-proficient player. Even so, they found themselves, once again, taking second place behind a dominant I-69 team - which like NÛK, had four players in the tournament's best XII and whose defender Bebiane Johnsen was named as the player of the tournament - a team which could go on to dominate Greenlandic women's football for some time to come.

Wednesday, August 6, 2014

The following match report covers the duel on 1/2/14 between Balzan Youths and Tarxien Rainbows.---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Inclement weather conditions blighted the Maltese fixture-list for 1/2/14, with the majority of games being called off across all four divisions; one game that did go ahead was that between Balzan Youths and Tarxien Rainbows, which took place at the Centenary Stadium at Ta'Qali. The weather did not deter just under 300 hardy souls from turning up to watch the second instalment of the day's double-header of matches at the stadium, which kicked off shortly after the conclusion of the fixture between Rabat Ajax and Vittoriosa Stars, which the latter won by a goal to nil.

The pitch was strewn with puddles at kick-off time with conditions deteriorating rapidly, and the Youths immediately went into attacking mode, with Dylan Grima testing Rainbows' goalkeeper with a low shot after two minutes. Less than a minute later, the game was brought to a halt as a howling gust of wind, which seemed to festoon the Ta'Qali complex with as much detritus as it could find from elsewhere on the island of Malta, sent players and match officials scurrying for cover.

DURING THE DELUGE: Substitutes and technical staff seek cover as the rain falls and the wind blows enough to cause a stoppage during the game between Balzan Youths and Tarxien Rainbows

With around 5 minutes and 30 seconds on the clock, it was deemed safe enough for the match to continue, and Balzan settled back into their attacking role with Lydon Micallef proving dangerous early on. However,Tarxien also had their moments,with Jorge Santos Silva causing disquiet in the Balzan defence.Just past the quarter-hour, Pacha Negrin almost put Balzan in front after receiving a pass from Pedrinho, but his daisycutter from around the edge of the box struck the outside of Vella's left-hand post. A few minutes later, Micallef, who had played his part in the move leading up to Negrin's earlier effort, saw his half-volley loop across but just wide of Vella's goal.The Youths had controlled the first 20 minutes or so, but Tarxien then had a flurry of their own, with a cross from the right causing panic in the Balzan defence, only for the ball to be scrambled clear; this was quickly followed by a counter-attack leading to a long-range half-volley from Jorge Santos Silva which flew a yard wide of Manuel Bartolo's goal.A long ball down the left-hand side was picked up by Micallef, who passed to Pedrinho, and his short pass found Negrin, whose shot gained a slight deflection on the way to being well tipped around the post by the busy Vella.Not long after, in the 29th minute, Balzan's domination paid off when a cross-field ball was headed on by Scicluna in the direction of Vella, who slipped at the wrong moment and, in falling, could only deflect the ball into the path of the onrushing Negrin, off whose shin the ball bounced into the bottom right-hand corner.

Balzan doubled their lead in the 35th minute when Pedrinho won the ball in midfield, carried it forward and, some 20 metres from Rainbows' goal, threaded a through ball out to Micallef on the left, and his sidefooter from just outside the angle of the six-yard box had enough speed on it to beat the Vella's despairing dive as the ball made its way across the face of goal and crossed the line just inside the far post. It was a fine end to a fine move, and just reward for Micallef's contribution during the first half-hour or so.

Jesmond Zerafa's men were looking comfortable as half-time approached; too comfortable, in fact, and they were jolted out of their complacency in the first minute of first-half injury-time when Tarxien's Malian striker Demba Touré reduced the deficit after a cross from the right was deflected into his path, and he made no mistake slotting the ball under Bartolo from right on the six-yard line.Just a minute later, the game could have been turned completely on its head when Manuel Caruana's looping effort from more than 30 yards out beat a back-pedalling Bartolo, but pinged off the bar, after which the ball was eventually cleared behind for a corner, and Balzan headed for the changing-room with their lead still intact.Tarxien began the second half with their tails up and dominated proceedings, although there were precious few shots on goal from either side up until the hour mark, a tame effort from a Balzan midfielder - which was easily gathered by Nicholas Vella - and another long-range effort for the Rainbows, this time from Carlos Menéndez Hevia, which went just over the bar, excepted.

WATCHING ON: Balzan Youths supporters watch as their team go on the attack against Tarxien Rainbows

As the rain which had been battering Malta since the night before the match finally abated, Tarxien kept going forward with purpose, and, with 66 minutes gone, deservedly drew level. Jorge's corner form the left resulted in Touré heading the ball in from on the six-yard line, his effort gaining admiring glances from a flat-footed Bartolo and an equally statuesque Youths defence.With just under 15 minutes to go, Tarxien won the ball in midfield, which resulted in a pass to Touré, and he forwarded the ball to Jorge, but his shot from 20 yards out was smothered by Bartolo just in front of the goal-line.Balzan were playing below par, and Zerafa decided that enough was enough, replacing the increasingly ineffective Fabio Vignaroli and Dylan Grima with Kurt Magro and Ryan Darmanin, and Darmanin especially made his presence felt as the game drew to a close. With four minutes left, Darmanin received a pass from Calçado just outside the Tarxien penalty-area, and his audacious back-heel was latched onto by Negrin, who shot wide with the goal at his mercy.Negrin made amends less than a minute later, when he ran on to a through ball inside the opposition penalty-area and, having shrugged off a tackle from a Rainbows' defender, poked the ball across and under the diving Vella, who could only help the ball into the net, and the three points were Balzan's.

SUBSTITUTES (not used): Anthony CURMI, FERNANDO LOPES ALCÁNTARA, NIgel VELLA (GK), Steve BONNICI, Steve Marc SADOWSKI------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------AUTHOR'S
NOTE: The line-ups for the above game were not made available to your
correspendent before or after the game in question, and the line-ups as
listed above were taken from the The Malta Independent, The Sunday Times of Malta, and from the maltafootball.com website.

Friday, August 1, 2014

The headquarters of the GIF (Grønlands Idreæts-Forbund, Greenland's national sporting body) in the Greenlandic capital, Nuuk, played host to the draw for the 2014 Greenland national championship play-offs on 29/7/14. The tournament itself is due to begin on 4/8/14.

Local club NÛK are the designated hosts for the tournament, which features eight teams in all, seven of which qualified for the tournament via regional tournaments held all over Greenland. NÛK, as hosts, did not have to participate in the qualifying rounds; they were awarded the tournament last year in recognition of the club's 80th anniversary.

After last year's drug and alcohol controversies featuring a number of players from B-67 and K-64, the GBU announced that there will be drug and alcohol tests at the national championships, and have taken delivery of testing equipment. According to local newspaper Sermitsiaq, the GBU were informed that a number of players from participating clubs (the identities of neither the players nor the clubs were divulged) have declined to make themselves available for the GM 2014 for fear of testing positive for drug use.Tests shall be carried out during the tournament on an ad hoc basis, and also after matches. If two players from the same club test positive for drug or alcohol abuse, they shall be expelled from the tournament; the same fate awaits any club with two or more players in its squad who test positive.All matches are scheduled to be shown live on national television station KNR, and several shall also be broadcast live on radio.

NOTE: Since this article was published, it was announced that TM-62, winners of the East Greenland regional championship, had pulled out due to financial reasons. As it appeared that no other side from East Greenland was ready to take part at such short notice, TM-62's place has been taken by the runners-up in the South Greenland tournament, Nagtoralik, who hail from the village of Paamiut, and who had claimed that they had been the victim of some irregular refereeing decisions during their qualifying match against Eqaluk 54. Now, Nagtoralik get to try their luck.

The competition kicks off on 4/8/14 with the match between host club NÛK and 2013 champions G-44. Please find below the draw for the 2014 GM play-off tournament; kick-off times are local.GROUP 1:Eqaluk 54 (Tasiusaq); B-67 (Nuuk); Nagdlúnguak (Ilulissat); IT-79 (Nuuk)

9/8/14 19:00 Winner SF1 : Winner SF2 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------AUTHOR'S NOTE:The information featured above was gleaned from Sermitsiaq (newspaper) and KNR (national television and radio stations) websites, plus the PFB archive.KNR have been busy advertising the GM 2014; they posted the following trailer on YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZJ5pZByTWU

About Me

I am an Irishman in exile; a dedicated follower of football (above all, of Liverpool and Newry City), a fan of the round ball but not neccessarily all that goes with it.
My intention was just to use this blog for writing practice, and write about those people and places on the football (soccer) front that seem to go unnoticed. If, by some chance (or misfortune), you find something written here worth using/writing about, PLEASE ACKNOWLEDGE AND SEND COPY. Ideas, compliments, complaints and contributions are more than welcome. In any case, hope you enjoy it.
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